


flowerless

by misschevalier



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Florist Geoff, M/M, Tattoo Artist Ryan, fluff to angst to fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-06-19
Packaged: 2018-04-04 22:38:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4155639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misschevalier/pseuds/misschevalier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Geoff always liked flowers.</p>
<p>(or that florist/tattoo artist au that no one asked for).</p>
            </blockquote>





	flowerless

**Author's Note:**

> I saw this [post](http://youalwayshadtremblinghands.tumblr.com/post/107652845769/songofthestarwhale-bluedragon-silence) and I knew I had to write this down. It took me almost six months but I did it, hurray!
> 
> Enjoy. ♥

 

Geoff always liked flowers.

He remembers that in his childhood house there were books that talked about how to take care of roses and tulips, what flowers meant or even histories behind each one of them but, even with all that reading, most of his knowledge came from his mother.

She was gifted with a tender touch and a sweet voice.

There wasn’t any corner in their house that didn’t have flowers: white roses and eucalyptus in the living room, carnations and peonies together in the kitchen or lonely orchids in the study, all of them looking gorgeous. Geoff remembers hearing his mother’s voice talking or singing to the plants in the garden and, after many years, he understood why all the flowers looked so pretty. He discovered this because his mother would ruffle his hair and touch his face tenderly and kiss his cheek whenever he did something good and he felt happy, he felt really _loved_.

The flowers felt loved.

After discovering this, he got a new outlook in life.

In a strange way, every person was like a flower.

(Everyone needed to be loved in some way.)

Maybe they were similar to other flowers but never the same: not all flowers have the same patterns or colors, not all flowers had the same necessities, not all the flowers have spouts and other had spouts that would wither and die before they even open.

When he was in school, he started comparing everyone to flowers.

He had a teacher that was a violet and lots of his friends were candytufts.

Then, he met Griffon in high school and she was the most gorgeous Iris he had the pleasure to meet. He remembers reading that the flower got its name because of the Greek goodness Iris, who was a link between worlds: earth, heaven and the underworld.

Griffon could be the _fucking_ _queen_ of each world and everyone would love her.

Geoff would have married her in a heartbeat but both of them knew that what they had was nothing but a platonic relationship: cuddles, kisses, holding hands, deep conversations in the middle of the night, and he couldn’t be happier with her at his side.

Both of them moved to Austin when they finished school, ready for a clean and new start. He got a job, within the next few weeks with Burnie, a fun delphinium, and then, that’s when he met Jack. He would have been intimidated by Jack when they first shook hands but he quickly understood that this man was a sunflower, and that made everything better. It was the way he smiled at Geoff when they first meet, it was the way his eyes were bright and full with life as if it was its own sun, it was the way he laughed and Geoff couldn’t help but laugh with him. They quickly became friends and Geoff learned that Jack would be beside him, as a support, and he appreciated that.

Jack would give him a ride to work in the morning and in the afternoon, he would walk to Griffon’s little shop so both of them could go home together. While walking down the street one day, he noticed this old building that was on sale: a closed local and, on top of it, a small apartment.

He ignored it the first time.

The second time was a few days later and that day Geoff stopped across the street to look at the building. He looked at the “ON SALE” along with the big black numbers that were in the window, waiting for someone who would call but Geoff shrugged it off, and then continued walking.

That night he couldn’t sleep and those numbers kept appearing in his head. He sat down with Jack in a bar and told him that he had this idea about opening a flower shop but he wasn’t sure really about it.  The man’s eyes went wide and bright at the same time, a smile appearing on his face.

“You should totally do it.”

Of course, after saying that, Jack started rambling about how he absolutely needed to open up a flower shop, asked if he had enough money, asked if he an idea of what the local would look like and that _they_ needed to search for someone who could sell _them_ flowers and _they_ had to come up with a name for _their_ new shop and-

Geoff stopped paying attention because Jack’s reaction told him that it was going to be worth it.

The third time, he stood there across the street and called the number.

After a lot of convincing, he got a deal from an old lady that wanted to get rid of it so she could move to Miami without any burden on her back. She didn’t want to sell it to him because of his tattoos, she said he looked “ _like a rascal_ ”, but when he mentioned that he wanted to open a flower shop, her eyes illuminated and literally threw the contract at his chest.

Griffon hugged him hard and left kisses all over his face, both of them smiling. “I’m so happy for you!”

The next time he stood in front of the building, he was the proud owner of it and now this place was home.

 

 

 

 

Geoff groaned when he heard his alarm go off that morning.

He sat down on his bed and stretched, trying to shake the sleepiness off of him. He got up and when he looked out his window, he noticed few people waiting outside for him to open up his store. He tried to hide behind his blinds, trying to look as if no one was living over the shop.

Today was Valentine’s Day.

He _hated_ Valentine’s Day.

That was the busiest day of the year and, even when he hated it, it was the best day of the year for his back account and the business itself. Mother’s Day was next and the rest of the year would be the same: boring and uneventful. He sighed and walked to the bathroom.

He dressed and when he was walking to the kitchen to get himself a cup of coffee, he heard the door downstairs open and close.

“Hey,” Geoff heard Michael’s voice from downstairs. “Are you up, Geoffrey?”

“Yeah,” he yelled downstairs. “Come up, I’m making breakfast.”

He noticed Michael walking up the stairs then leaving his bag next to the railing. He let out a yawn after sitting on one of Geoff’s kitchen chairs. “Lindsay made me breakfast but I can accept a cup of coffee.”

Michael Jones was a strange person.

He could be a Gladiolus sometimes (faithful with a strong character) but at the same time he was a Petunia (angry with a shooting presence). He was the type of person that Geoff needed at least four beers, two glasses of whiskey and seven rounds of Halo to know what kind of person he was.

Jack was the one who presented Michael to him. He and Michael had been friends for a while, thanks to Lindsay- Michael’s girlfriend. Lindsay and Michael had been in a long distant relationship, he was in Jersey and she was in Austin. Last year, he decided that “ _fuck it, I’m moving in with the love of my life_ ” and well, he did indeed move with her.

Then, he needed a job.

That’s when Geoff entered in the picture.

He had been thinking about hiring an assistant for a while; the store was going good and he could handle it by himself (and Jack coming every other weekend and busy days since he still had his regular job) but he realized that being in one the busiest streets and the only flower shop downtown (not counting groceries stores), gave him lot of work to do.

Wednesday afternoon, Geoff was saying something about hiring someone to help him with the store.

Thursday morning, Jack appeared in his front door with Michael.

While Geoff tried to discover which kind of flower Michael was, he started knowing the kid more and more to the point where both of them would sit down drinking without being awkward. Michael was lots of fun and, even when at first he looked like he would destroy Geoff’s face in a heartbeat, he was very sweet and friendly. He took Michael under his wing and taught him everything he knew about flowers- starting from where they came from to what they meant until he finished in which combination of flowers would look good and _smell_ good.

Geoff could only say that he was very proud of him.

“Are you excited for today?” Michael asked and grinned behind his cup when he saw Geoff’s expression; each year he asked the same question and the answer never changed. “Aw, Geoff, why not? It’s your favorite day of the year!”

“Why don’t you shut up and drink you coffee? Jesus Michael,” and the younger man just let out a long laugh before answering with a _yes, boss_ and Geoff couldn’t help but smile. Maybe he hated days like this but mornings with Michael were always fun.

By the time Geoff ate all his breakfast, a short line was forming in front of the store and the door downstairs opened and closed once again, announcing Jack’s arrival.

Today was going to be a long day.

 

 

 

 

 “Why did I open a flower shop, I’m such an idiot.”

Jack and Michael giggled at Geoff’s tired whines. Every year he said the same and each year Jack and Michael would laugh about it: they knew that Geoff loved flowers too much to regret opening his shop. “Nah, having a flower shop it’s great! Right, Jack?” Jack only hummed in agreement while taking a swig of his beer. Being the owner of the whole building had his perks like having the opportunity to drink beer in the roof after a long day with his friends-employees.

“Yeah, well-” he sighed. “At least I have two great people at my side helping me out. Thank you.”

“Are you going to get sentimental now?” Jack asked, smile on his lips. Geoff gave him the finger and Michael chuckled softly at their sides. “You know that it’s our pleasure working with you, Geoff.”

Geoff shrugged. “I guess I just feel bad for not letting you be with your loved one in this day.”

“Don’t worry,” Michael said. “Lindsay hates days like this- _you shouldn’t show someone that you love them just one day of the year!_ You know how it goes.”

“Also, Caiti isn’t going to come home until next month,” Jack sighed. “So, it’s nice to have some company.”

Out of the three, Geoff was the only one who was single. Jack had his lovely wife Caiti and Michael had Lindsay, while himself was all alone- if you don’t count Griffon, who sometimes used his last name for artistic reasons. It didn’t bother him being single, he was getting used to it and he hasn’t met the right person yet.

(He didn’t think he would be meeting anyone new soon but whatever, he was fine just as he was.)

“I’m going home,” Michael yawned and left his bottle of beer in the floor next to his chair. He stretched before patting Geoff’s shoulder in his way to the stairs, whishing them a good night. Jack left a few minutes later, with the excuse that it was getting quite late. Geoff looked out to the night and the Austin’s lights where decorating the sight. He didn’t fucking care that he was alone because right now he had Austin at his feet and, with the feeling of him being powerful, he thought that was everything he needed.

Geoff woke up the next day expecting that the rest of the year would be the same: boring and uneventful.

Well, Geoff Ramsey was wrong.

When he brought the building, there was a small bar across the street that closed a few weeks before he opened his flower shop. For a while, there had been a sign with an “ON SALE” along big black numbers waiting for someone to call. A few days after Valentine’s Day, the sign was nowhere to be seen and on the windows there were newspapers, making unable to know what they were doing inside the store.

That was the international sign of _WE’RE_ _WORKING_ and Geoff knew it.

At first, Geoff didn’t give a fuck. Yeah, maybe there would be a new store but whatever; he didn’t want to be gossiping about something that with time would reveal itself.

Maybe he didn’t give a fuck but it seems that everyone else did.

“Lindsay thinks it’s another hipster café,” Michael commented one day, while both of them were in the backroom, talking. “They’re painting the walls color teal while the others are still brick walls- I think she’s right.” Geoff only shrugged and told him that he didn’t care, before sipping his cup of coffee.

“Joel and Adam are betting about the shop, you know? Adam said bookstore but Joel keeps insisting that is another bar-” and he laughed for a moment, before continuing to put a bouquet together. “I think it’s a new clothes shop or something like that.” He shrugged at Jack’s idea, before telling him that maybe he was right.

Even Burnie came one day just to comment on the new store and Geoff was kind of getting tired of it. Everyone said different things, hipster cafés to bookstores to clothes store and even a pharmacy: he didn’t care and it seemed that people didn’t understand that shit. They just had to be patient.

One day, without announcing herself, Griffon appeared on his office with a smile on her face.

“Hello, _poppy_ ,” she greeted him. Her pet names for him were different flowers, which made Geoff giggle like a kid and feel all fuzzy and warm inside.

“Hey there,” he smiled at her and she leaned to give him a soft peck. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going to pick new logs to make your Never Ending Story sculpture.”

“Already did it,” she said, sitting on top of Geoff’s desk. “I have news that you might find interesting.”

Geoff hummed. “What’s that?” His hand was resting on her knee, smiling warmly at her.

“There’s going to be a new tattoo shop in town, babe, and you’re very lucky since it’s the store in front of you.” Geoff’s eyes went wide, looked at her. “I’m guessing you had no idea.”

“No,” he answered honestly. “Jack and Michael had their theories but I never thought that it would be-”

“Me neither, don’t worry. A friend of mine is opening the store, he’s such a sweetheart and I’m sure you’d love his style. As soon as he opens, we’re going to get some ink, understood? Something small and cute.”

“Sure thing.” She smiled widely at him and he couldn’t help but smile back- gorgeous, gorgeous woman. “Want to stay here tonight? I have Diablo 3 waiting for us.”

“I’ll be waiting you upstairs then.” After taking the keys to Geoff’s apartment, she said hi to Jack and Michael, who were bickering in the back room about red and white roses, and walked upstairs.

 

 

 

 

Alarm clock went off as always and Geoff didn’t want to get up.

He woke up with Griffon’s arm wrapped around his waist and he cuddled her close, hiding his face on the woman’s neck. Weather started getting lot colder than usual to the point that Geoff had a few blankets on his bed to keep himself (and when Griffon was over, sometimes themselves) warm. He got up and, as always, looked outside the window.

Then he noticed that the apartment, the one over the new local, had its lights on and that was quite surprising to see. Later that same day, the newspapers were ripped of the window and the CLOSED sign was hanging in the door. Geoff was arranging some orchids when Jack pointed out that there were people entering to the store but after that, there wasn’t anything new.

 

 

“Good morning! Can we help you?”

Geoff looked up from his doodle book when he heard Michael’s voice greeting a new costumer.

“Hi,” the guy smiled at them shyly, on his hands a little notebook. “I-I want to order some flowers.”

“Of course! Do you already know what you want? We have tulips, roses and lilies, also-”

“Actually, my boss wants something more specific.” The boy opened the notebook on his hands and, after passing some pages, he gave Jack the notebook and Michael appeared behind him.

“Well,” Jack cleared his throat. “You should take care of this one, Geoff.”

“Why? Can’t you idiots do it by-?”

“No, actually I don’t think we can do it by ourselves,” Michael looked at him.

Geoff sighed and got up from his chair, leaning over the counter to get the notebook from Jack’s hands. He read it in silence before looked over at the boy. “Your boss is either a florist, a wedding planner or some shit like that, right?”

The boy’s cheeks became red. “Uh, no, he’s just a tattoo artist.”

“Are you serious? The one in front of us?” Geoff raised his voice a little too much and it cracked, making both Michael and their costumer laugh. “This guy is _awesome_.” In two pages, there were four different bouquets with different flowers and vases, each one of them having an explicit description of the flower color and which foliage will go with each one. Geoff felt amusement because this was the most difficult order so far- normally people would come and ask for some flowers, other they just picked from the exhibition and that would be it.

Weddings required some planning but this, this was the _shit_.

“Also, why would you want flowers for a tattoo shop?” Michael asked, quite intrigued.

“He says that people feel more at home if there are flowers around. We keep them as far away from our work stations because you know, hygiene and shit, but people seem to respond very well at them.”

“Wait, our work stations?” Jack looked at him, confused frown on his face. “Are you a tattoo artist? I mean, I don’t want to sound mean but I guess one expects-”

“A whole lot of tattoos? Yeah, it’s not the first time I heard it, don’t worry,” the boy shrugged with a smile on his face and then he pointed at Geoff. “Also, you don’t expect a florist to have a bunch of tattoos.”

“Touché,” the bearded man smiled at him before offering him a hand. “Since we’re neighbors, hi, I’m Jack. This is Michael and the cranky old man is Geoff.”

“Ray,” he answered and shook the man’s hand. “So… do you think you can have the bouquets for next Friday? It would be awesome if you can deliver them that afternoon because we’re having an opening night and we want everything to look pretty.”

“Yeah, we’ll have them for next Friday, kiddo.” Geoff said, taking photos with his phone at the notebook before returning it to Ray. “Tell your boss that we’ll be delivering it for free, I mean, it’s not a long ride.”

“That’s awesome, I guess.” Ray giggled. After Geoff did some calculation and Ray paid for the order, he smiled at them. “Well, I better be leaving. You know, if any of you want to pass by the store, you’ll be welcome.”

“Awesome,” Michael said, smiling at the boy. “We’ll see you around then.” Ray nodded and waved them goodbye before leaving the shop. Geoff kept looking at the photos on his phone before getting up and going to the back store, to check if they would be getting jasmines next week because, if not, he would have to order a dozen.

 

 

 

 

 “Geoff, you fucker! Come on and help me!”

He heard Michael screaming his name and he couldn’t help but giggle. Taking off his apron, walked to the back of the store and smiled at the younger man. “You called?”

“Ha ha, very funny. Now, c’mon, we have to take the bouquets to the tattoo shop-” he stretched “and since Jack’s not around, you should fucking help me.” Then, he carefully took two of the bouquets. They weren’t as big as Geoff thought in first place and he knew that Michael could put all of them in a box and take them to the store but, of course, he would want to see the inside of the tattoo shop and bring Geoff as a backup.

“Fine,” he sighed and took the other two bouquets- the two of them that were his favorites. “Come one, buddy, let’s go.” They put the WE’LL BE BACK IN TEN MINUTES sign and left the local, just to cross the street and enter to other local.

They were greeted by a redhead, who was sitting in her work station and seemed to be one of the artists working in the shop. “Oh my! Look at them!” She smiled at them after looking at the flowers. “Please, leave one of them in the counter over there. Let me get this one.” She took one of the bouquets Geoff had on his arms while Michael put the other on the counter next to the register. Ray appeared from the back room and smiled at them, helping Michael with the other one.

“What do I do with this one?” Geoff asked, looking at the girl.

“This one goes in Ryan’s office,” she smiled and waved her hand at him. “Watch your step and follow me.”

They walked through the local- teal paint and brick walls with different photos of tattoos (very awesome and pretty tattoos) along with the sanitation papers and some awards. There were little shelves with machines and some bottles of color but Geoff caught some videogame and anime figurines on a top the shelves.

“Hey Ryan,” she said, opening the door. “Your lovely flowers are here.”

Ryan wasn’t the man Geoff expected to run a tattoo shop, since his arms were clear of ink and he had grandpa glasses over his face. Geoff noticed the man’s brown hair pulled up in a bun and then, snapped back into reality when the man looked up from the papers to the bouquet Geoff had in his arms.

“Whoa,” he said, getting up from his seat. “Griffon wasn’t lying when she said that you were the best florist in town.” Geoff laughed a bit, blushing.

“It’s good to know that Griffon isn’t talking shit about me. Also, thank you, I just followed your instructions.” The man laughed and shrugged; he took bouquet and put it on his desk. He touched the petals just in the way Geoff’s mother used to do, carefully and lovingly.

“I’m Ryan, by the way. I’m the owner of the shop.”

Geoff looked at him for a moment and frowned. “So, this is like the only tattoo shop in the world that any of its artists have tattoos of them?” Ryan laughed and Geoff felt his heart stop for a moment because, man, that laugh was adorable.

“Something like that,” he smiled and then looked at Geoff’s arms. “Well, you don’t expect a florist having tattoo sleeves that look good.”

“I- I guess, yeah, one of your kids said that already. Thank you though,” Geoff smiled back. “So, I think you will see me around. I promised Griffon that we’ll be getting tattoos together when you officially open up.”

“I know, Griffon already made dates for you and herself,” he crossed his arms on his chest and leaned on his desk. “She expressed that I had to be the one tattooing you, whilst Meg tattooed her.”

Geoff groaned and muttered “God, that woman.”

“I mean, you can’t blame your girlfriend for-” Ryan started before Geoff interrupted him.

“We’re not- we’re not dating,” he clarified and Ryan looked at him with a surprised expression. “We aren’t dating. We’re in a, well, a platonic relationship? We go out, sometimes sleep in the same bed and give kisses to each other but we aren’t, like together or a something? We’re just friends.” Geoff bit his lip because normally when he tried to explain this to people, most of them didn’t understand and they kept insisting that they had to be something, _you can’t just kiss each other without being something!_

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Ryan said. “I just taught that you too were something else. I guess it’s the way that Griffon talks about you but yeah, I guess it would be nice to have a relationship like that and- uh, I’m rambling, I’m sorry. Let me start from the beginning: you can’t blame her for picking up a date, so-” Geoff looked at Ryan in silence before nodding at whatever he was saying. (It been a while since someone accepted the fact that Griffon and Geoff’s relationship was different and now, it felt awesome seeing him smiling at him and acknowledging that they were happy just like that.)

This man was awesome and now he just wanted to be in this shop all day long. “Uh, so, thanks for the flowers,” Ryan broke into his thoughts. Geoff shrugged but before he could say anything else, Ryan smiled bright. “You know, you should come tonight to the opening. Bring your employees if you want, it would be good knowing the neighbors, yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure. It would be great,” Geoff answered with a nervous smile on his face. “I’m pretty sure my boys would love to come.” Then, both of them heard a loud _crash_ of what it seemed glass outside the door and, before Geoff could even move, Ryan was opening the door and getting out of the office.

When Geoff poked his head out to see what had happened, he found a strange sight.

Michael was laughing so hard his face was red and he was on the floor, unable to move. Next to him was Ray, also laughing. Another boy, one he had never seen before was standing in a puddle of ink and there were a few pieces of glass on the floor. The girl that received them was looking at the boy, trying to hide her smile behind her hand.

“Gavin…” Ryan sighed, looking at the boys. “Meg, what did he do now?”

She put her hands up and walked away, as if she was saying that it wasn’t her fault.

Geoff then thought that it was going to be loads of fun having these guys around.

It _was_ lots of fun and that night he got a sneak peek.

Jack, Caiti, Michael, and Lindsay accompanied Geoff to the local that night, which was decorated with hanging lights all over the roof. (“It was all Meg’s idea,” Ryan told him, leaning closer to him. “I told her it was very silly but she refuted that they looked pretty and, well, I couldn’t deny that.”)

There they saw Ray, who introduced to them his girlfriend, Tina. Meg said hello to Geoff’s crew and Gavin, the British boy that broke an ink bottle earlier, followed her example and got into a deep and silly and drunk conversation with Lindsay and Michael.

(Later that night, Geoff would learn that Gavin and Meg were in a relationship.)

When Griffon got to the local and saw Geoff, she kissed him sweetly and he couldn’t help but feel warm inside; she was too lovely. They chatted for a while before Ryan appeared next to him and Griffon couldn’t help but wrap her arms around him, kissing his cheeks.

“I’m so happy for him,” she muttered in Geoff’s ear later.

Both of them were sitting on one of the couches, looking at Ryan talking to Lindsay and a few other women, a crowd of people between them. “Look at him, he looks so happy to have this shop,” she added. Geoff hummed in agreement, because yes, Ryan actually looked happy to open this shop.

Strangely enough, Geoff didn’t see Ryan for the rest of the month. His shop seemed to be going fine, people were always entering and leaving and the local lights didn’t turn off until seven or eight on weekends.

Strangely enough, Geoff saw Ryan when he knocked his door at one in the morning. “I’m sorry if I woke you up,” he said, his arms crossed over his chest. “I saw the light on and I though you must be up and-”

“Ryan,” Geoff interrupted him. “It’s fine, I was awake. Is there something wrong?”

“Uh,” the other man blushed. “I never thought it would get this cold in Texas, so I was asking if I could borrow, well, a blanket.” Geoff smiled warmly at the other man and opened his door even further.

“Come on in,” he smiled and Ryan hesitated at his words. “I won’t let you wait outside.” Ryan gave him a small smile and entered, already walking up the stairs.

Geoff wasn’t expecting that night to be one of the most interesting nights of his life. He discovered a lot of things about Ryan (one of them being that the man has insomnia and migraines) and they talked until the sun raised, both of them sitting on the couch. Ryan curled up in Geoff’s blanket and Geoff cleared some achievement on Far Cry 4 while both of them talked in hushed tones, laughing in time to time.

When Michael got into the local and heard zero movement in the apartment upstairs, he was quite worried. Usually Geoff was already up at the moment Michael got there, unless he was sick or, well, _dead_. “Geoff?” He walked upstairs, looking around the apartment. “Hey, Geoffrey, are you okay?”

He stopped when he heard a soft snore and then he walked to look at the couch. Ryan was snoring softly, lying down on the sofa, his hair going everywhere and Geoff was almost falling from the couch in the other side. Geoff had a XBOX controller on his hand and Ryan was warped in a blanket and only his arm was out, phone on his hand.

Michael decided that Jack and himself could handle the store today. He took Ryan’s keys and walked downstairs, phone in hand ready to send a text to Meg so she could come to pick them up to open up the store. Maybe Geoff and Ryan needed a day off. Of course, neither of them were really happy when they woke up midday and remembered that they had responsibilities and shops to run.

 

 

 

 

Then, somehow, they started having a weird tradition.

Some nights Geoff would leave his lights on as if he was his way to tell Ryan that he could come in anytime.

Ryan would accept the invitation appearing in the middle of the night with the excuse of borrowing the same blanket and Geoff would just let him in, smile on his face. They would get a midnight snack or they would play co-op games or they would lie down on the roof, sharing a blanket and counting stars or they would lie on the couch, both of them pressed against each other, talking in hushed tones.

They started to become really close.

Neither of their friends realized that until a few months into their friendship.

Geoff sometimes would send Michael to the local in front with a Tupperware on his hands, with the same excuse: “He doesn’t get breakfast because he’s a fucking workaholic, so give this to him.” Michael wouldn’t say anything to Geoff about the gesture neither he commented how Ryan looked so fucking happy and blushed when Michael appeared in his shop.

Ryan sometimes would send notes to Geoff via Gavin, maybe asking for new bouquets or just thanking him for the breakfast (“It was amazing and god, I feel like you should be the next Master Chef”) or maybe, in slow days, which were weird, he would come into the flower shop and sit down with him in the back store, talking about how awful or awesome that one client was or how pretty this tattoo was, _look at it, Geoff!_

Gavin teased Ryan more than once about those notes but his boss would only glare at him.

Geoff sometimes would stop at the tattoo shop after he closed his own shop, entering with a smile on his face and with coffee in his hands. He would smile at Gavin, who could be sitting on the counter, waiting for his girlfriend to finish cleaning up her station, and Geoff would just walk to Ryan’s work station.

Geoff would approach carefully when Ryan was with a client.

Tonight, Ryan had his hair pulled into a ponytail and had his glasses on, which only could mean a thing: this tattoo was a long one. The tattoo artists told his client to take a break because the man’s poor girlfriend was starting to whine about him hurting her hand.

“Hey,” Geoff smiled when Ryan got up and walked closer to Geoff. “I brought you coffee, your favorite.”

“Aren’t you adorable?” Ryan commented, looking at the cup as if it was the most amazing thing in the world. “Thank you,” he mumbled and then he felt Geoff’s pats on his back, telling him to get rest when he finished with his client.

Meg and Gavin only shared a confused look.

No one dare to comment anything about them mostly because they looked happy. More than once, Michael and Jack commented that they haven’t seen Geoff this happy in a long time, while Meg, Gavin and Ray did the same with Ryan; so, why disturb it?

But, without any intention of running Geoff’s happiness, Jack asked a question that troubled his mind. “You know what kind of flower Ryan is? I’m curious, you know.”

Geoff stopped mid swig and looked at Jack.  He haven’t thought about that.

Ray was an amaryllis, a gorgeous red flower that if Geoff could say so, was shy before blooming but when it did, oh boy, he was the most gorgeous thing. Ray was a beautiful boy, just as Michael, and with the amaryllis meaning splendid beauty, he thought that he was right.

Gavin washyacinth and Geoff related this to him mostly, not only because of its meaning of playfulness, but because of the own Hyacinth, the divine hero that was Apollo’s lover. He died and Apollo made the flower from the boy’s shed blood. Apollo was the god of archery, knowledge and sun, and somewhat, that fitted a lot with Gavin.

Meg was tulip. She was bright and cheerful and Geoff loved hanging out with her because she was an incredible person and she had strong opinions on things and yeah, Geoff loved talking to Meg.

But Ryan… he was something else.

He couldn’t fit him with any flower he knew. He spent sleepless nights checking the internet and books about flowers but there was nothing, he couldn’t find anything. When Ryan knocked his door at midnight one of those nights, he didn’t answer because he couldn’t be sure if he could handle being with Ryan.

Geoff wasn’t sure why this was so important to him. He didn’t really thought about it so much after opening his store but Ryan was something that was bothering Geoff. The not knowing what Ryan was bothered Geoff to the point that he wasn’t sure if he could live like this.

He couldn’t live without knowing which flower Ryan was.

 

 

 

 

“Did I did something wrong?” Ryan asked quietly at Jack, while Geoff was in his office.

Jack shrugged and observed in silence at the other man; he looked even worse that Geoff himself. “I’m not sure. He haven’t said anything about you, really, not bad or good.”

“Oh” and Jack caught the disappointment in the other man’s voice and somehow, it kind of hurt noticing it. “I get it. Well, I guess just remind him that Griffon put his tattoo date with me next Wednesday, okay?” Jack nodded and said goodbye, looking at Ryan walk quite sadly at his tattoo shop once again.

Michael and Jack shared a silent look before going back to work.

“They got it bad,” Meg commented to Michael, Gavin and Lindsay over lunch. They went out to somewhere close to their works and they were talking about their bosses. “Ryan loves doing tattoos but right now he’s relying most of it to Ray and I and it’s not that we can’t handled it but is not a good sign. We have noticing that his insomnia is hitting him harder- I don’t understand.”

“Geoff’s acting the same,” Michael muttered and Lindsay looked at him, in silence. “He had been inside his office almost all day, only coming out to the backroom, not even wanting to see the flowers, which he usually does.”

“They had been fine before, what do you think it happened?” Gavin asked.

“Do you think they had a fight?” Lindsay said, not looking at them but at her food, playing with it on the plate. “They seemed like they liked each other, it could be a fight, I don’t know.”

“No, no. It cannot be,” Michael shook his head. “Ryan came asking about why Geoff was acting strange.”

“Weird,” Gavin frowned and looked confused. “Geoff came in today when Ryan was out. He didn’t say anything but he left a note.” All of them turned to look at him, while Gavin just ate a bit of his salad.

“What the fuck, Gavin,” Michael said. “You didn’t think that was important?!”

“Well, I didn’t open it, I didn’t know what it said!”

“God, you’re the fucking worst.”

“Michael, boi, don’t be upset.”

Meg and Lindsay just rolled their eyes.

(They later learned, via Gavin with a text message in their group, that the note only said “I’m sorry”.)

When Wednesday rolled around, Griffon found herself in Geoff’s office. Her arms were crossed over her chest which made her seem more powerful, her tattoos staring at Geoff. The man was just lazily eying a document in front of him, trying to ignore her. “What do you mean you’re not coming with me?” She repeated his words. “You promised me that you were going to get a tattoo with me!”

“Actually, I didn’t promise anything,” he started. “I just said _sure thing_ and you-” but he shut himself up when he looked up at Griffon and she was giving him a stern look. “Well, I don’t even know what I’m going to get so I don’t think it’s worth going-”

“Something small and cute,” she replied. “Didn’t you say you wanted to have an anchor on your hand? Also, I know you have your doodle book and that you have been drawing on it.”

Geoff sighed because, yeah, he knew this wasn’t about the tattoo anymore. “Do you really want me to talk with Ryan, right?” He asked, leaned back on his chair and crossing his own arms on his chest, looking at her. Griffon raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

“Maybe,” she answered and Geoff rolled his eyes. “You two were great! I don’t understand what happened!” Griffon sat down on the desk in front of Geoff and took his hands and, even when he tried to shake her away from him, she insisted. Finally, he was still and Griffon just looked at him worriedly. “What happened? This is not like you, Geoffrey” and her hand wandered to the man’s nape.

“Forget about it, Griffon,” he replied, closing his eyes; her hand felt warm against his cold skin. “It’s just, I have something in my mind and it’s not going away. I know it’s silly-”

“It’s not silly if you’re like this because of it,” she replied quietly. Both of them were in a comforting silence for a while before she smiled softly and told him to get up and move. “We’re getting our ink.”

He wasn’t sure what he said to Michael and Jack when he left the building (maybe something about them closing for him and leaving him the keys after) but he was sure that the Texan sun had disappeared behind his own building, marking around five or six in the afternoon, the night approaching in already. Griffon was holding his hand as they crossed the street and he returned back from his thought when he heard the bell in tattoo shop.

“Griffon, Geoff!” Gavin greeted them with a big smile, sitting behind the counter. “Take a seat, you’re in your own house. Meg and Ry are finishing up some clients but they will be with you in a moment.”

Both of them smiled at Gavin and Geoff noticed that Ryan didn’t look up from his work to search for him.

Griffon was taking photos and posting them on her instagram, Gavin was arranging some notebooks in his counter and sometimes clicking on the computer, Meg and Ryan were finishing their clients, Ray was cleaning his work station, and Geoff was just sitting, looking at them work or just mind their own business.

He couldn’t help but stare at Ryan.

Geoff noticed that Ryan had deep purple circles under his eyes and that his bun was messier than ever. He was frowning while working on the woman’s arm tattoo. Both of them were talking and more than once, Ryan would look up at her and smile or laugh at whatever she was saying.  (That made Geoff jealous. Was he stupid?) He noticed her standing up and Ryan following her to the closest mirror. She was giggling in excitement, almost jumping into Ryan’s arms; he only smiled and nodded at whatever she was saying.

Geoff just drifted to his thoughts. He tried to think about every flower he knew, every meaning of those but, well, neither of them were fitted for Ryan. He was, at Geoff’s eyes, simply a mystery. He thought he knew the man but it seemed like he was very, very wrong.

Then, a thought creeped on his mind.

What if- what if Ryan was _just like him_?

In that moment, Geoff understood why he cared about Ryan so much.

Ryan was just like him: flowerless.

Geoff had never defined himself as a flower: he couldn’t think if he was a rose or a lily or a jasmine or any flower. He described his mother and himself as flowerless because they had a hand with flowers. When Geoff was younger, he thought that maybe the person that would make him feel butterflies and make him feel dizzy in love, that would make him feel _loved_ , would be someone like him.

Certainly, he felt dizzy.

He noticed that people were calling his name and that they were standing around him. What was happening? He was fine, he was fine; was he fine? Griffon called his name a few times, a worried tone noticeable on her voice. Geoff couldn’t focus and he only saw blurry spots of red and blonde and blue and green and, whoa, why he felt so dizzy?

“Geoff.” What really brought him back was Ryan’s voice and his arms being held strongly by warm hands.

“I, I have to go,” and he stumbled away from Ryan’s grip and out of the door.

“Geoff!” Ryan called him again, standing outside the door and watching Geoff almost running to the flower shop. He didn’t want to turn back to see Ryan’s face because… no, he couldn’t deal with him right now (but Ryan was an insistent person.) “Geoff!”

“Stop it, Ryan!” Geoff yelled from the other sidewalk, turning and looking at him. “What do you want?!”

“I want to know what happened!” and yes, Ryan wasn’t exactly referring of what had happened inside the store but it sounded more like _I want to know what happened between us_. “I want to fucking know what’s the problem with you!”

“You!” He yelled and moved his hands, his arms; he didn’t care about anything right now, he didn’t care that he was breaking Ryan’s heart, or that he was breaking his own. “You moving here, you opening a store; meeting you,” -and those words were yelled with venom on them- “knowing you! _You_ is what happened, _you_ are the problem!”

Ryan was frowning and his hands had formed fist but his eyes were filled with tears. “Fuck you, Ramsey,” and after Ryan said those words, he walked inside his shop and told Meg and Gavin to close down for him; then, he ran upstairs. From the other side of the sidewalk, Michael and Jack watched the whole scene go down and Geoff just took his keys and walked upstairs, ignoring Griffon’s and Jack’s calls.

He closed his door behind him and, after walking to his bed, fell onto it face first.

Geoff discovered that night that Ryan wasn’t a flower, he was just like him.

Geoff discovered that night that he was in love with Ryan.

Geoff knew for sure that he just ruined every single chance he got with the man.

Geoff knew for sure that he destroyed their friendship.

He just groaned into his pillow and, after getting up and drowning himself in alcohol, fell asleep.

 

 

 

 

Geoff woke up at six in the morning with a throbbing head.

He lied there on his bed for a moment, trying to remember what had happened yesterday. After he remembered, he just groaned into his pillow and then whimpered because _holy shit_ his head fucking hurt.  He send Jack and Michael a text with the words **I’m not opening today** and after writing on a blank paper, he walked downstairs and tape it on his window.

**CLOSED TODAY ALL DAY**.

Geoff stood still in the middle of his store barefoot, only wearing his boxers and yesterday’s shirt. He closed his eyes and listened to the white noises that came with being awake at six am: birds signing in the distance, some cars passing on the main street, some other sounds that Geoff couldn’t identify. The flowers in his shop smelled so good and Geoff took a deep breath, enjoying it.

He opened his eyes again and walked upstairs.

When he was moving the sheets on his bed, he noticed that the apartment in front of his had its lights on.

Ryan was awake. Geoff felt a rush inside of him, a thought growing in his brain and saying _hey, you should go and apologize, don’t be an asshole_ but, of course, Geoff didn’t listen to his own mind. He lied down on his bed, looked outside at the blue and orange and pink sky and then drowned himself on his bed sheets and blankets, trying to fall asleep once again. He didn’t exactly remember what he did the whole day but when he turned around to look outside the window, he realized that the sun was falling and it looked as if it was six am once again.

Ryan’s apartment light was still on.

The next day he thought about not opening the store but Michael entering his apartment and ripping the sheets from his bed made him change his mind. “Get up,” Michael told him, hitting him with a pillow. “I’m going to make you coffee.” Geoff took a shower, sipped his coffee and ate some toast and jam that Michael gave him on a plate.

As both of them were walking downstairs, Jack entered and gave Geoff a warm smile.

“Hey,” he said, his hand resting on the man’s shoulder. “Are you okay?” Geoff only shrugged and walked to the door, taking the sign off of it. He sat down behind the counter and looked outside his window: he could see Meg on her workstation, which was the closest to the window glass in the other shop.

He kept looking across the street all day long and he realized he missed Ryan.

He missed sending Michael off with Ryan’s breakfast, missed Ryan’s silly notes in the middle of the day, missed being able to hang out with Ryan in the middle of the night, talking about videogames, flowers, tattoos, singing old songs together; he really missed him.

Yet, Geoff didn’t do anything. Weeks passed and he didn’t fucking move to make things better.

He didn’t cross the street and sat down next to Ryan on his workspace or on his office, telling him that he was an idiot and that he shouldn’t have said those awful things and that he loved him because he was just like him, he made him feel dizzy and he made him do stupid things.

Geoff had been ignoring the tattoo shop that he started acting as if had never existed; as if he had never met Ryan and it was, once again, just Michael, Jack and him on the small shop. It was as if the bar closed down and the big ON SALE words were still on the glass window, waiting for someone to buy the building.

Even when he felt as if the tattoo shop didn’t exist, he kept looking across the street.

That morning, Ryan’s apartment light was off and Geoff knew he missed the chance.

Geoff stopped thinking when he heard the bell ringing and he smiled at their new costumer.

 

 

 

 

Months passed along with the holidays.

Holiday’s like Halloween, Ryan’s birthday, Christmas, New Year.

Geoff hasn’t seen Ryan in months.

He had texts on his phone that he would never send to the man.

Before he went to sleep, he looked outside the window and saw the apartment light.

Now, the light was off.

Geoff waited for the light to be on again, as if he was waiting for a chance.

 

 

 

 

Meg opened the back door while Gavin held an umbrella above them.

It was pouring awfully on Austin and both of them were trying their best to get from the car to inside the building without getting wet. She opened the door and both of them entered, Gavin closing the door behind him, whining how he hated when the weather was like that. Meg laughed and walked inside; she left her jacket in the main office, shooting a look upstairs before walking to the main space where they had their workstations and you could see the street.

Gavin was turning on the lights and starting their coffee machine when he heard Meg’s muffled scream. He didn’t remember running so fast to the other room without tripping over his own feet but, of all the things, he wasn’t expecting this.

Geoff was standing outside, drenched, and Meg was trying to open up the main door as quickly as she could. “Oh my god, are you okay? Come in,” she said, pushing the older man to the building. He was shivering and he was leaving a puddle on the floor just from standing there.

Geoff watched both of them helping him out of his wet clothes and into some of Ryan’s clothes that Gavin searched. When Geoff saw Gavin running upstairs a few seconds earlier, he had the slight hope that Ryan would come downstairs running, running to his side and asking him if he was fine, if he wanted tea or coffee, if he wanted to lie down on his bed, if he wanted a hug.

Yet, Gavin came down with clothes on his arms but no Ryan behind him.

After he stopped shivering, Meg and Gavin sat down in front and all of them shared some looks.

“How have you been?” She asked, scooting closer to Geoff but still on her chair. “It’s been a while since we saw you around here. Is the business going good?” Gavin smiled, trying to make the older man more comfortable around them.

“I’m good, I guess,” he answered. He sighed and rubbed his free hand on his face, while the other held the blankets. “I just- I need to know how Ryan is doing. Is he fine?”

The couple looked at each other in silence.

“He… he hasn’t been good,” Meg told him. “I’m being honest when I said that what you said that night really hurt him, Geoff” and the man nodded because he knew, he knew, he knew he was an idiot that night; he shouldn’t have said anything like that.

“He relies most of his costumers to Meg and Ray or he cancels them, that’s not like him. Apart from that, he’s barely sleeping and well, he looks like shit all the time. What we can say? He’s a bloody mess.”

Geoff nodded with a pained expression on his face. “Can I see him? Please? I _need_ to talk to him.”

“He’s not here,” Gavin replied.

Somehow, that didn’t surprise Geoff.

Every morning, Ryan’s apartment light was off but that morning, he woke up and noticed it was on, and that was probably what made Geoff get up and walk outside in the middle of the rain, knocking on the shop door without any answer until Meg appeared in sight. “Where is he?” Geoff asked, looking at the couple.

“Georgia” and all Geoff could do was nod. “He left almost two weeks ago, something like that. All of us told him that he needed a vacation but we aren’t sure when he’s coming back; he never said.”

“What about the light in his apartment?”

“I went upstairs last night to search for something and I forgot to turn it off, I’m sorry if it bothered you.” They sat in silence and they realized that the rain had stopped. The sky was brighter than before and Jack and Michael were in the store across the street, since all the lights were on.

“Go home.” Meg’s voice was sweet and Geoff nodded, thanking them for helping him and getting him warm. She smiled and Gavin patted his knee softly, almost awkwardly.

Of course, when he opened the door of the flower shop, he was greeted by Jack’s arms and both his and Michael’s furious talking. He nodded and listened to them but he couldn’t really concentrate because he was wearing Ryan’s clothes.

At Jack’s request, he didn’t work that day.

Or the next. Or the day after that.

Maybe he stupid for standing in the middle of the cold rain at seven am; now he was lying under the covers and sheets of his bed, shivering, coughing his lungs out, feeling warm and cold and, if he tried to get up, he would feel nauseous. He slept on Ryan’s clothes and he didn’t really care about it.

He felt ridiculous. Sick and ridiculous, what a stupid combination.

It was two in the morning, after being four days sick, when something woke him up.

He thought it was his fever, feeling terribly hot but he knew that that wasn’t it. He searched for his phone but noticed that he didn’t have any new message or any missing calls. He thought it was a thief entering his store but after not hearing anything else for a few minutes, he discarded it.

Then, he noticed it.

Ryan’s apartment light was on once again.

Geoff slowly got up, shivering and noticed that he wasn’t hallucinating.

Ryan was home.

He put on one of his pants and a hoodie before taking his keys and leaving the apartment.

Geoff didn’t remember when it was the last time that he had felt so good since he got sick.

He knocked the door once, twice, three times and got not answer. He called Ryan’s name, his voice raw and his tired tone echoing through an empty street. He knocked the door over and over again until he saw the light from the stairs coming on and he stopped.

Everything stopped.

Ryan appeared and Geoff felt he was going to throw up.

“Geoff,” he said after opening the door and pushing him inside. His hands wandered to Geoff’s hair and caressed his face before resting on his cheeks. “You’re warm, you should be resting. Griffon told me you were sick.”

“I’m fine,” he replied and just melted at Ryan’s touch. He knew he probably looked desperate but he didn’t care because Ryan was there, he needed to apologize, he needed to make things right. “Look, I need to talk to you-”

“No, you need to get rest, Ramsey,” Ryan said and Geoff only looked at him in silence. The younger man just sighed and closed the door behind him. “I don’t even understand why you are awake at this hour.”

“Your light woke me up.”

“Oh,” Ryan looked at him. “Yeah. Come on, I’m not going to let you out here.” Geoff wasn’t sure why Ryan was treating him so nicely but he didn’t anything; he just nodded and walked behind Ryan, following closely. The tattoo artist held the door in the top of the stairs open for him and he entered Ryan’s apartment.

That’s when he realized that after all those months he had never entered into Ryan’s apartment.

It was a mirrored imagine of his own apartment, which wasn’t a surprise. Ryan sat him down on the couch and threw a blanket over him, wrapping him up. “Are you feeling alright?” He asked and Geoff only looked at him in silence because, did Ryan really care about him? “Geoff.”

“Yeah, I’m not that bad,” he answered and watched Ryan walking around his apartment. The man came back minutes later with a hot cup of tea that Geoff accepted thankfully and Ryan sat down beside him. Geoff felt as if it was a déjà vu, like those nights in his apartment: one of them curled up in a blanket and the other one sitting on the other end of the couch, talking or playing a game or reading. It didn’t really matter, company was what really mattered.

“I’m sorry.” Geoff started but Ryan shook his head.

“Do not,” he said, not daring to look at Geoff and that really hurt. “We shouldn’t- not right now.”

Geoff nodded and both of them were quiet. He sighed and leaned back on the couch, his feet propped up on the coffee table. Ryan gave a small smile and did the same, glancing at Geoff in time to time. “You cut your hair; it looks good like that too.” Geoff commented, his head resting on the back of the couch but his eyes were looking at Ryan. “How was Georgia?”  Then, after that, the conversation kept going. They talked, in hushed tones, and they even laughed, to the point that Geoff got into a coughing fit that scared Ryan. The apartment was full of live, something that Ryan really missed.

He was talking about his mother when he heard a soft snore and he noticed that Geoff had fallen asleep. Ryan would normally push him with his foot, to wake him up but he decided that the man needed to sleep and so he let him.

Then, he closed his eyes and did the same.

(It was the first time in months that he had gotten a nice sleep.)

When Michael and Jack got into the local that morning, they were expecting to hear zero movements coming from the apartment but they started panicking when Michael went upstairs to check on Geoff and he wasn’t there. Jack called Griffon because “maybe she took him home or something” and Michael went to the store in front of them because, well, maybe Ryan saw something strange last night, who knew.

Before Michael had gotten the chance to say anything, Meg turned on her chair and pointed to the stairs. “If you’re searching for your boss, he’s upstairs with ours.” He looked at her and she nodded, shrugging. “Yeah, don’t ask questions.”

Michael didn’t ask any questions.

 

 

 

 

 “Why did you say all those things?”

Weeks had happen since Ryan came back from Georgia and everything fell into a weird normalness. Some things had disappeared like Geoff preparing breakfast for Ryan or Ryan coming over the flower shop just to talk if he had a moment in the day. Now, both of them were sitting in Geoff’s kitchen table, Chinese take-out in front of them, half eaten. Ryan was still, looking at the man in front of him while Geoff just chewed. “Why did you take care of me when I was sick?”

“You’re avoiding the question, Geoff. Also,” the man smiled softly, “don’t talk when you’re chewing, can you?” Ryan couldn’t help but chuckle when Geoff’s come back was a simple _what are you, my mom?_ They were in silence for a moment before Geoff said anything.

“I was stupid, very, very stupid and I’m sorry,” he started, glancing at Ryan time to time, feeling the younger’s staring at him. “I really missed you and I regretted saying all those things to you and I really, really wanted to apologize but-”

“You didn’t.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that too.”

“That doesn’t really answer my question,” Ryan said and Geoff was quiet for a moment. Why did he say those things? He wasn’t upset with Ryan; yes, he was jealous that night but that didn’t give him the right to say everything he said. Then, he closed his eyes and sighed.

“I was scared,” and Ryan’s eyebrows rose, not expecting that answer. “Actually, I’m scared.”

“Of what?” Those words made Ryan more confused than before, now leaning over the table to get a better look of Geoff, who was leaning back on his chair, trying to get away from Ryan’s question.

“Loving you.” That answer was so honest that it gave Ryan goosebumps.

“Scared of…loving me? That doesn’t really make a lot of sense.”

“Yes, it does.” That was when Geoff started to talk about his mother and how she was the one to teach him about flowers, along with some books; how she had the sweetest voice and a tender touch, how she made him realize that everyone was a flower, each one different but from the same family; how he realized, because of that, that maybe the someone who would make him feel dizzy and do stupid things and say stupid things would be someone like him, flowerless.

Geoff felt so vulnerable talking about this because it was the first time he had said all this things out loud, not even Griffon knew. He stopped for a moment before taking deep breath, looking at his hands on his lap.  “I’m scared that I’m right, I am _scared_ of me being in love with you because, well, I have never felt this way and it’s so weird,” he laughed nervously. “Yeah, so, I’m sorry for what I said that night. I didn’t really mean it and I totally regret it.” Ryan was silent. “I’m sorry-”

“You said you love me.”

“Yes, I-I do. I had a while to think about it and-”

 “Fuck you, Ramsey, seriously.”

Ryan got up and left, leaving Geoff with more Chinese take-out that needed and his heart on his throat. He heard the door then sighed and got up, cleaning everything. “I guess I deserve it.”

 

 

 

 

The next day, Geoff groaned into his pillow when he heard his alarm go off that morning.

It was Valentine’s Day.

Still hated Valentine’s Day.

The morning went as normal. Got up, looked out of the window seeing a small line of people waiting; then, he went to the bathroom to get a shower and when Michael got to the local, he was already making himself breakfast. He thought about making Ryan breakfast but he wasn’t sure how the other one would react. “Are you excited for today?” Michael smiled behind the cup of coffee, waiting for the same answer but instead received a shrug.

“I really don’t care” and Michael only nodded. When Geoff finished his breakfast and Michael, his coffee, the door downstairs opened and closed once again, announcing Jack’s arrival.

He was expecting this day to be a long one, as always.

A long, boring, Ryan-less day.

Flowers and money went, money and flowers went. He had spent most of the day in the back store, making the bouquets, checking that the flowers in the front of the store didn’t run out, that the order were in the right place at the right time.

At ten, Ray came in with a smile on his face and Michael greeted him. Jack watched them by the corner of his eye and he noticed that Ray had a paper in hand, handing it to Michael, both of them smiling like idiots. (Geoff didn’t know about this.)

When Geoff checked the clock, it was four in the afternoon and the flow of people seemed to be slowing down. He sighed in relief, finishing one last order: this one was probably the prettiest one of all the bouquets he had done all day long, a rose-less bouquet, and he found himself touching the petals carefully.

“Hey,” Jack came in, cups of coffee in his hand and handed one to his boss. “I meant to ask you something.” Geoff looked at him with tired eyes while sipping on his cup. “Are you and Ryan okay?”

Geoff shrugged. “No, I don’t think we are.” It seemed that was enough answer for Jack.

It was eight pm and it was just only him and the rose-less bouquet (which he was thankful about because Valentine’s Day made him sick of roses). He kept looking at it, observing it and Geoff caught himself thinking about making a bouquet and leaving it on the store across the street. He was lost in his thoughts when he heard the store bell ring. “Welcome-” he automatically said, then, he noticed it was him. “Ryan.” The man looked good and Geoff felt conscious about how he looked himself: he probably looked like shit.

“Hey,” he shot Geoff a small smile and gave him a paper. “I came to pick up my order.”

“I had to suppose this was yours,” he smiled back but inside, he felt a pang at his chest because Ryan had order a bouquet, maybe he had a date tonight, maybe he already had someone and that’s why he flew last night, that’s why he couldn’t be with Geoff, because he didn’t love him back.

Ryan paid and the owner gave him his bouquet. Geoff was about to wish him good night when Ryan returned the bouquet back at his hands. “What’s wrong? Didn’t you like it?” He felt nervous; this was the first time someone had returned his flowers.

Ryan looked down and then smiled. “They’re for you.”

Geoff was silent looking between the flowers and Ryan.

“I’m sorry for last night,” he started. “I was upset, or something like that. I-I realized that I like you, quiet a lot and, well, maybe I don’t love you and such and you hurt me with your words but I think we can work this out.” Ryan shrugged at Geoff. “I’d like to work things out with you.”

“Okay, thank you” and that was all Geoff could say before Ryan laughed out loud.

For the first time in months, Ryan had been the one to left Geoff without anything coherent to say. Maybe it was because he was seeing Ryan _laugh, happily_ , and that made Geoff’s heart flutter because Ryan wanted something with him, he wanted him.

The flowerless had found another flowerless.

Geoff invited him over, with the promise to make dinner.

Ryan just shrugged and answered with an “I really miss your food, so why not?” 

 

 

 

 

Last year, Geoff woke up the day after Valentine’s Day with the expectation that everything would be the same: boring and uneventful, and, of course, Geoff Ramsey was wrong because Ryan Haywood entered into his life like a fucking wreaking ball. This year, Geoff woke up days after Valentine’s with an arm wrapped around him and soft snores coming from other person on his bed.

He woke up with Ryan next to him and Geoff couldn’t be happy.

Their first kiss was weeks later.

Ryan was devouring the breakfast and the coffee that Geoff made him because he was running late. “Thank you, it was very good,” he said, after putting his black tee on and kissing Geoff, then running down the stairs. “I’ll see you tonight!” Geoff just stood there, spatula on hand, flabbergasted because Ryan kissed him.

(That night, when Geoff popped at Ryan’s place and smothered with kisses and Ryan just laughed.)

Their first time was sweet and slow.

Geoff received a late night text from Ryan that just said _I need you_ and he didn’t think twice before running across the street and entering to the man’s apartment through the back door. Ryan looked awful; he was shaking, pacing all over his apartment. Ryan saw Geoff and he almost cried, Geoff’s arms wrapping him. When Ryan kissed him, Geoff stopped a few times, muttering that he didn’t want to take advantage of him but Ryan took his face between his hands, looking at him deeply.

“I want this, please, Geoff.”  (Later, he discovered that a longtime friend of Ryan’s died. “She thought me everything I know about tattooing,” he told him the next morning, when both of them were lying in bed. Geoff just apologized.)

The first time Ryan said I love you took Geoff by surprise.

“I like it when you talk flower to me,” Ryan laughed, drinking out of his coke can. Geoff shoved him playfully, smile on his face. Both of them were sitting on some stools at Geoff’s rooftop, eating some pizza.

“I know you do,” Geoff said, taking a sip out of his beer. He smiled at Ryan before saying “I love you.” Ryan had learned, thanks to Geoff and Meg, it’s okay to not reply back if you don’t really feel it. Maybe the other person it’s just informing you and that made Ryan feel better with himself. Yet, he had time to do some introspection and he decided that it was time.

“I love you too,” Ryan replied and then commented on Austin’s skyline looking beautiful. Geoff only smiled and leaned to kiss Ryan. (He would be lying if he said that his heart stopped for a moment when he heard those words.)

Strangely enough, they never said anything to anyone about themselves being together. Geoff thought that maybe Griffon would pick it up quickly, Michael, or even Jack, but neither of them would mention Ryan in front of him. It happened the same with Ryan. Every time he would send Gavin to the store across the street, an expression full of sympathy appeared on his face but Ryan only shook it off. Meg always tried to take him out to have _a good time_ , but he wasn’t into that. And Ray, well, he was Ray and he would act normally, which Ryan really appreciated.

Monday, Geoff sent Griffon a text that just said **We’re getting ink. Wednesday afternoon, love you.**

Wednesday, Griffon appeared and Geoff expected her just to drag him to the store, yet, she just stood there, leaning on his desk. “Are you sure you want to go? I mean, I want to get ink with you but I can go alone, it doesn’t really bother me.”

“Griffon,” he looked at her, frowning. “Yes, I’m sure I want to go, c’mon.”

When they appeared in the store, tension appeared in the air and Geoff was weirder out.

Gavin usually greeted him with a hug or he would jump on him but he just stayed behind the counter, telling them that they had to wait a few minutes. He could feel Meg, Ray, Griffon and Gavin’s eyes on Ryan and himself but both of them ignored it. Geoff kept sending and replying mails to his suppliers on his phone and Ryan kept working on the tattoo in front of him.

They were the last ones for the day, so the tattoo shop was quiet.

When Meg was over with her client, Griffon got up and walked to the girl’s workstation. On her passing, Ryan shot her a wide smile that she replied- it’s been a while since Ryan had a bright smile like that. Meg and Griffon talked while Meg cleaned up before working on the tattoo itself.

When Ryan finished his own client and said goodbye, he got up and walked to the couch.

Everyone took a deep breath, they could feel eyes on then and the tension became palpable.

“Hey there,” Geoff got up, his hand wandering to the other man’s arm. “How’s your head doing?”

“Better, I guess.” Ryan answered, shrugging, making Geoff smile. “I’ll clean up a little bit, you might want to go and find your book. You left it on my nightstand.” He nodded before walking up the stairs. Ray and Gavin had frowns on their faces and Meg had his mouth opened. They watched Geoff and Ryan laughed and joke around as if nothing ever happened.

Griffon was sitting on the chair in a way that made her see Geoff while he was getting his. Her eyebrow raised and he did the same, curiously; she looked at Ryan and Geoff understood.

He smiled widely and Ryan pushed him softly, asking what he was smiling about. “Probably because you but whatever,” and Ryan rolled his eyes, before going back to his work.

It was strange but they looked happy.

They realized that Ryan and Geoff were happy.

 

 

 

 

Geoff always liked flowers.

He had learned everything from his mother, who had a sweet voice and a tender touch, and she was the one to make him see that everyone was like flowers: everyone was different but the same, everyone wanted to be loved.

He loved flowers so he opened a flower shop.

Then, someone opened a store in front of his, a lovely tattoo shop.

He met Ryan, who had a sweet voice and a tender touch, who was just like him.

Geoff always liked flowers.

Yet, he liked Ryan ten times better.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me @[my tumblr!](http://somespontaneouswriting.tumblr.com/)


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